Delaware Supreme Court Allows SEC To Ask Questions

The Delaware Legislature recently amended the Delaware State Constitution to allow the SEC to ask the Delaware Supreme Court to answer questions of Delaware law. Previously, Delaware’s high court was only procedurally authorized to accept certified questions of Delaware law from trial courts in Delaware and Federal Courts around the country, as well as the high courts of each state. Here is a front page article from the local paper, the News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware, on May 19, 2007, with more background details.

UPDATE II:Here is a post by Prof. Gordon Smith with a link to the actual text of the amendment and his observation that this may be the most important development in Delaware law in the over 100 years since Delaware took over from New Jersey as a favored home for corporations. Also, here is insightful commentary from Prof. Stephen Bainbridge with links to his related writings on the topic as well as links to Prof. Ribstein’s commentary on this key matter.

Courtesy of Wilmington lawyer Brian Rostocki, comes a report of the first example of the SEC availing itself of a procedure authorized last year that allows the SEC to ask the Delaware Supreme Court for rulings on particular issues of…